LeBron James Wins AP Male Athlete of the Year

Countless people want to align with James. Few make him listen. Beckham did.

“You want to be a part of it, but it has to feel real to you,” James said. “You don’t want to do something that doesn’t feel much to you, that you’re just doing for the money. We all have money. For me, my time is more than money at this point in my life.”

James has another “decision” to make in 2014. He can become a free agent again this summer, though still smarting from the circus atmosphere that followed him during his final season with the Cleveland Cavaliers four years ago, James is staying largely silent on what might happen.

He insists he has no idea.

“I’m so zoned in on what my task is here this year that it’s hard to think about anything else,” James said. “A guy the other day asked me what I’m going to do for New Year’s, and I haven’t even thought about that.”

When asked if there’s anything he doesn’t like about Miami, James offered few complaints, other than the often-clogged street — Biscayne Boulevard, or U.S. 1 — that leads to the arena the Heat call home.

“What is there not to like about Miami?” James said. “It is a home. My family is very happy; I’m very comfortable. But U.S. 1? I wish that was a highway.”

Bear in mind, he’s not always unhappy when that street is gridlocked.

The last two years, he’s been largely responsible for hundreds of thousands of people lining that road for Heat championship parades.